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Study Roundup: Which Oil May Lower Blood Pressure?

By | Published Sep 19, 2012

The
Gist

If you are looking for more ways
to control your blood pressure and cholesterol levels through food, it may be
time to add one or two more varieties of cooking oil to the pantry.At a recent 2012 scientific meeting on high blood pressure heldby
the American Heart Association, researchers from the Department of
Cardiovascular Disease at Fukuoka University Chikushi Hospital in Japan,
presented encouraging findings on the impact of blended sesame and rice bran
oil on cardiovascular health. Study participants who cooked with the blended
oil saw a significant drop in blood pressure, as well as improved cholesterol
levels. Most notably, the researchers found cooking with a combination of these
oils was nearly as effective at reducing high blood pressure and cholesterol as
a commonly prescribed high blood pressure medication. When the study
participants used the oil blend along with the medication, the positive effects
were even greater.

The
Expert Take

“We often
read about the many health benefits of mono- and polyunsaturated oils, but
unsaturated fats only have a positive effect, if they replace saturated fats in
the diet,” says Tina
Ruggiero, MS, RD, LD, a nutrition expert and cookbook author. “If they're simply added to the
diet, they won't work as intended; you're just adding more fat to your overall
diet.”

Fortunately,
when it comes to using both rice bran oil and sesame oil in cooking, they are
versatile, tasty, and easy to integrate into different recipes. As Ruggiero
points out, “Rice bran oil has a very mild flavor, and you can barely detect
it. So, that makes it useful for all types of applications—from tempura to
baking and grilling, and salad dressings. Most of all, rice bran oil has a high
smoke point. This means that it can be heated to very high temperatures without
altering its flavor.”

As for
sesame oil, Ruggiero says it’s a very popular ingredient used in India, the
Middle and Far East, and it has various uses. “Dark sesame oil is made from
toasted sesame seeds and has a very profound flavor. Light sesame oil is
processed from the raw seeds, so the taste is apparent yet more delicate.
Sesame oil is great for seasoning sea vegetables or spinach; it's delicious
when flavoring curry; it gives noodles a whole new flavor profile and sesame
oil is wonderful in stir fries.”

Source
and Method

During the 60-day study conducted
in New Delhi, India, researchers recruited 300 men and women (average age 57) with
mild to moderately high blood pressure, and divided them into three groups. One
group was treated with a commonly used blood pressure-lowering medication
called a calcium-channel blocker (nifedipine); the second group was given the
oil blend and told to use about an ounce each day in their meals, and the final
group received the medication and the oil blend. All three groups saw drops in their systolic blood
pressure, which is the top number in a blood pressure reading, and measures the
force of blood against your artery walls when the heart is pumping.

Participants using just
the oil blend or the medication saw a significant drop (anywhere from 11-16
points) in both their systolic and diastolic blood pressure. However, those who
used the oil blend in conjunction with medication saw the greatest improvements
in their blood pressure readings: a drop of 36 points in systolic pressure, and
a 24-point drop in diastolic pressure.

While there were no
changes in recorded cholesterol levels for the study participants just using
the blood pressure medication, those using the oils alone or along with the
drug, saw a 26 to 27 percent drop in their LDL ("bad" cholesterol)
and a 9.5 to 10.9 percent increase in their HDL ("good" cholesterol)
levels.

The researchers theorize
that the unsaturated fatty acids found in the oils, combined with their
antioxidants, such as sesamin, sesamol, sesamolin and oryzanol, may be what’s responsible
for the results. Other studies have shown, that monounsaturated and
polyunsaturated oils, and antioxidants, which are compounds found in plants, have
been linked to lower blood pressure and total cholesterol.

Other
Research

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition
in July 2012, found that rice bran oil significantly lowered total serum
cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels in a group of 35 people with type 2
diabetes, who were randomly assigned a placebo or 250 ml of rice bran oil every
day for five weeks. In a study published this month in the Journal of Clinical Hypertension, 30 men were randomly assigned to
take 35 grams of either sesame oil or a placebo daily for two months. Those
assigned the oil showed lower readings of their systolic blood pressure after
about two weeks on the regimen. Both studies suggest that there is a
heart-protective effect with the use of sesame and rice bran oil in the diet.

The
Bottom Line

While more research studies are
needed to replicate these promising results on the cardiovascular benefits of
sesame and rice bran oil, mixed together or not, adding them to your diet
couldn’t hurt.

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